All my ducks were eaten!

[upchickenman]

Hi all~

I'm hoping you can possibly help me. I had 2 beautiful Khaki Campbell ducklings (5 wks old) and a 3 yr old Muscovy female. Saturday night, something got into my duck pen and ate my babies. All that was left of one was the foot. The other had a head and feet left, but the rest was all eaten. My old female was fine. We couldn't find any spot where an animal would have gotten into the pen, unless it climbed the wall and went over the top (the one area not completely fenced off). Last night what ever the critter was, it ate my Muscovy. It dragged the body behind the pen and ate the middle out of it. (We left the pen open thinking if the animal came back, the old girl would have a better chance of escaping, instead of being confined in a smaller area like the little ones were). We have no clue what could be eating it and now are worried about our chickens and bunnies, though they are all locked up securely. (We hope!) Any suggestions as what it could be? I live in a rural village (about 200 people) in VERY northern MI (by lake superior). Please help! Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

I would lock everything up in houses/sheds overnight now, what ever it is eating your stock is now aware that there is an easy food source available. So sorry about your ducks, i've been fortunate not having any predators get to my ducks since i've had them, couldn't imagine anything worse though

 

[dorsetduckowner]

I agree with the previous post, essential to lock everything up at dusk and not let them out until dawn AND keep them behind and electric fence during the daytime.
So so sorry to hear you lost your flock, that must be terrible. I have lost some of my best ducks to the fox

zo
x

 

[Anonymous]

I am SO sorry to hear this! Very sad. I have tops on my pens and at dusk shut them into their house and lock it, which is inside the pen with the top....so kind of 'double protection'. I seems like nothing is foolproof though! I hope the rest of your animals are okay!

 

[upchickenman]

Well, just found out what the critter is....a coon! Swore at it 8 ways till sunday and it just looked @ me. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it? BTW --- we've been locking EVERYTHING up @ nite and have had no more casualties. Going to go back to the farm and pick up my solar charger..... zap the crud out of the critter.... I love animals, just not wild ones like this in my back yard.

up.c.man

 

[crewy05]

I am really sorry to hear of your loss, i can only ehco what everyone else has said. Maybe you could set a trap, usually a cage with a trap door so once it goes in the door closes and it cant get out. Good luck

 

[Tim]

I'm not sure how to remove this predator (being in the UK we don't get them here..)

Sorry to hear of your loss... :-(

 

[upchickenman]

Got the critter. Found a recipe on line that very quickly got rid of him and with a minimum of pain. Not my first choice, but.... :-( At least the rest of the chickens and all are safe!

 

[Bertie & The Chooks]

as soon as i read where you were i knew it was a coon they are nasty critters. We had those and coyotes to deal with in Georgia. crafty boogers. sorry for your loss.

 

[Tim]

Pleased to hear you've got rid of him. I know very little about predators outside of the UK but it does sound like we're lucky here without some of them...